The Czech Republic is polarized over joining the euro zone, Africa needs to push more ambitiously for faster progress and Libya’s government said that the Lockerbie bombing case is closed, despite British and American hopes for a …

On deck for Thursday: The world’s biggest money manager says the Chinese economy will improve after the leadership transition, Burma turns to Japan for investments, and Lance Armstrong’s problems go from bad to worse.

On deck for Wednesday: The Italian government fires an entire city council for suspected ties with the mafia, the IMF lowers its global growth forecast, and the U.S. military reportedly gets more involved in the Syria crisis.

In today’s required reading: where al-Qaeda stands 11 years after the 9/11 attacks, Somalia’s struggle to recover after decades of warfare, and the possibility that four Pakistani soldiers who went missing 47 years ago might …

A Dissident Speaks – In an op-ed in The New York Times, Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who is in New York after escaping house imprisonment in China’s eastern Shandong province and fleeing to the U.S. embassy in Beijing, …

Fruit Flare-Up – China’s turned to a new weapon in its dispute with the Philippines over contested South China Sea islands. State-run People’s Daily gleefully reports that “fruit from the Philippines will receive stricter …

Pakistani Push-back – In an interview with the Guardian, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani insists his country did not shelter Osama bin Laden and blames global intelligence shortcomings for allowing the late …

I visited Bihar for the first time in 1998, when its reputation for lawlessness was well-deserved. Traveling by train from Delhi, you knew exactly when you crossed the border into Bihar. That’s when groups of aggressive, ticket-less riders suddenly jumped onto the train, comfortable in the knowledge that, in Bihar, no one would …